Science over politics – and 71 days to go

What we did

Just keep chugging along. This week we knocked doors, restocked on campaign palm cards, and – due to some technical difficulties – re‑restocked on cards that will arrive this week.

71 days until Election Day!

Welcome back to school season to our students this fall. Personally, our toddler starts preschool next week. We're still in denial that he can go to any sort of school.

The Issues - Science Over Politics

You may have heard about the return of measles. In Iowa, we currently have 16 confirmed cases this year – up from 9 last year. The CDC says 1 in 5 unvaccinated people get hospitalized, and 1 in 20 children with measles develop pneumonia.

We have dropping vaccination rates to thank for that. Vaccines don't just protect against measles; they reduce harm across the board. And yet, just last session, Republicans passed a bill out of subcommittee to eliminate MMR vaccination requirements for kids in school entirely.

The Problem

Vaccines have been pushed aside in politics, along with much of our science. The climate crisis. Water quality. Vaccinations for diseases that killed many of our loved ones.

Politicians are playing games with our lives. Trump pushed a critical vaccine at unprecedented speeds, then turned around and pushed conspiracies, including removing the MMR vaccine from the recommended list.

Here in Iowa, the majority of Republican legislators are there to do as they're told by that administration, whether or not he's in office. That includes Rep. Ann Meyer, who voted to remove COVID‑19 vaccine requirements for students, right after expanding access to them the year before. As a rubber stamp, she votes with her party 99% of the time – more often than the average Republican. Vaccines are not where she draws the line, if you can say one exists.

The Solution

Only good lobbying is informing ones; legislators shouldn’t be passing bills without input from experts and those who will live with the results.

If elected, I will fight to:

Listen to experts in their fields – especially those without a profit motive
Listen to teachers about teaching
Listen to scientists about science
Work with communities actually impacted by policy

We have had culture wars take off, where getting praise from Trump is the goal - not taking care of us. Without backing, we have RFK calling vaccines to blame for autism, ivermectin for COVID. We have to get common sense back into the legislature.

Where We’re Going

New campaign cards (second time’s the charm?) arrive this week
Knocking more doors in Fort Dodge (we were just in Otho and Vincent)

Noteworthy Posts

Link to Facebook of Israel AI texting me - here
Link to Facebook on some blue wave mojo coming in November - here

Donate

We again are rejecting all Corporate PAC money, so we really rely on, and are extremely grateful for, your support. We’ll spend your donations on ways to expand our reach to as many voters as possible, including:

Postcards and other mailers and postage
Hand‑out cards for doors/events
Text messaging campaigns
Transportation costs for events and door-knocking
Campaign website costs
Radio ads, social media ads, and (hopefully) TV ads
Our campaign manager

https://secure.actblue.com/donate/kris-williams-1
Finally, if you have anyone else in mind who would like to be added to our email list or who would be interested in volunteering, let us know at kriswilliamsforiowa@gmail.com!